WASHINGTON, DC — U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) announced that the U.S. Department of Labor has awarded more than $13.5 million in grants to the Finishing Trades Institute of the Mid Atlantic Region (FTI MAR), the Finishing Trades Institute of Western Pennsylvania (FTI WPA) and Jobs for the Future, Inc. for green job training programs.

“Ensuring our workers, particularly those in the manufacturing sector, have the skills they need to sustain well paying jobs is critical to America’s competitiveness and the success of our economic recovery,” said Senator Casey.

The funds are available through the Department of Labor’s Green Jobs Innovation Fund, which awards grants to organizations that help workers receive job training in green industry sectors.

“We are proud to announce that Senator Casey was the driving force behind the new green training program that the Finishing Trades Institute (FTI) spearheaded in the tri state area,” said Mike Schurr, Director of Education for FTI. “This program will put Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware’s unemployed / underemployed, dislocated and disadvantaged workers along with youth and veterans back to work in the growing industry known as the green initiative.”

Last month, Senator Casey sent a letter to the Department of Labor voicing his support for FTI’s grant application. FTI, which received a $5,573,925 grant, will use a partnership between organized labor, employers, and public and private workforce development sectors to provide green job training opportunities to veterans, unemployed and under employed workers, disadvantaged young people and dislocated workers from various manufacturing sectors. The project will benefit areas across the mid-Atlantic region, including Philadelphia, Allegheny, Erie, Dauphin, Luzerne and Blair counties in Pennsylvania.

Jobs for the Future, Inc. received an $8,000,000 grant to enhance and expand green career pathway training programs in the auto technology, green construction, manufacturing and utilities sectors. Training will focus on unemployed, dislocated and lower-skilled workers in several U.S. cities, including Philadelphia.